REFLECTION ESSAY ON HUMAN SERVICE
John and his siblings have been orphaned for close to three years now. Before their death, their parents were deep in debt and all their property was claimed by the creditors to settle their debts. With no connection to their immediate family, they were left with no one to look after. Their necessities such as food, clothes and shelter are rarely met because they have no one they can depend on. They are constantly begging on the streets and sleep on boxes under bridges. One day, they met Adam, well-wisher who works as a social worker and runs a children’s home for orphans. Adam was kind enough to take them under his wings. He offered them shelter in his children’s home, and they even resumed with their studies. Adam, in his capacity as a social worker, sought to help John and his siblings so that he can bring not only change to the society but also maintain social order. While on the streets, John and his siblings could have joined street gangs and turned to robbery and drug trafficking to meet their daily needs. However, in school, there is hope that they can study and become influential people who can give back and bring change to the society in future. From the story above, one can deduce that from rescuing John and his siblings from the streets, Adam brought change to society while others might say that he helped to maintain social order. By removing potential recruits of street gangs who would have later become criminals, Adam maintained social order. In by so doing he also brought change to the society. From my perspective, human services aim to maintain not only social order but also promote social change. Basing my argument on my values and other dominant ideologies portrayed by the media on how human services are delivered, this reflection essay shows how human services is both a means of maintaining social order and an opportunity for implementing social change.
Human services professionals work closely with people in the society. They know the challenges that these people are facing. Social workers who are involved with rehabilitation centres work primarily to help drug users to overcome their addictions. This rehabilitation brings about change to the society. People who were once rendered unreliable can now seek employment and generate income for their families and the society. Through their interaction with the addicts, social workers get to know where addicts get drugs from. They can share this information with the relevant authorities and lead to the apprehension of the drug traffickers and by doing so, they maintain social order (Fawcett, 2009, 15).
Human service workers are always working to change the current conditions of the society-at least the good ones are (Parada and Homan, 2011, 18). They are involved in programs that advocate for the rights of minority groups such as the LGBT community, immigrants, the unemployed, the poor and the disabled (Parada and Homan, 2011, 23). They have challenged laws that do not favor such communities and levelled petitions against unjust judgements on cases. Human service workers are agents of positive change (Parada and Homan, 2011, 29). They envisage a community that offers equal opportunities to all its members and are constantly formulating policies and practices and changing the existent ones to champion for equity and equality. They, therefore, work closely with individuals such as legislators who can effect and foster such changes.
The change that is caused by the human service workers goes ahead to maintain order in the society. In an inequitable society, there is bound to be tension and unrest. For example, in a society with a high number of poor and unemployed people, cases of robbery are bound to be high (Brager and Holloway, 2002, 41). If laws do not favour communities such as the LGBT, such communities are bound to riot to voice their grievances. But with the human services systems in place, such scenarios are eliminated. Human services provide an effective and efficient channel through which such communities can communicate their complaints. Since social workers interact with these communities, they can act as middlemen between the communities and the authorities and eliminate instances of social disorders (O'Connor, Wilson, and Setterlund, 2006, 39).
In conclusion, my values and the manner in which the media portrays how human services programs are implemented have greatly influenced my perception on human services and its goals. The media depicts human services as an avenue through which social change can be achieved. For example, the Oakland Men’s Project established in 1979 was portrayed by the media as a program that will change the manner in which domestic violence was handled (Kivel 2006, 22). Instead of placing an emphasis on women who were battered, the media saw the project as a game changer in ending domestic violence. I, on the other hand, am a person who enjoys peace and, therefore, appreciates any efforts taken by human service professionals to maintain social order. Initiatives such as crisis management and intervention, community organizing and advocacy play a major role in maintain social order (Chenoweth and McAuliffe, 2008, 43). I, therefore, believe that human services are an opportunity for implementing social change and maintain social order.
Brager, G. and Holloway, S. (2002). Changing human service organizations. New York: Free Press.
Chenoweth, L. and McAuliffe, D. (2008). The Road to Social Work & Human Service Practice. South Melbourne: Cengage Learning Australia.
Fawcett, B. (2009). Social policy for social change. South Yarra, Vic.: Elizabeth Vella on behalf of Palgrave Macmillan.
Kivel, P., 2006. Social Service or Social Change. pp. 129-149.
O'Connor, I., Wilson, J. and Setterlund, D. (2006). Social work and welfare practice. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Education.
Parada, H. and Homan, M. (2011). Promoting community change. Toronto: Nelson Education.
